Too many quick little stops to write about. Here are some of our favorites.
White Rock Pile
Shipwreck Creek
Haast
Blue Pools Track
More scenic places around central South Island, NZ
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Monthly Archives: April 2013
Fox Glacier
Franz Josef Glacier
The Franz Josef Glacier and the Fox Glacier are located in Westland Tai Poutini National Park on the West coast of the South Island, NZ. You can hike from the temperate rain forest to the base of the glaciers in about 45 minutes.
A hike up the Doughboy
We did a quick little hike up this doughboy. It was quite the bushwack, but from the top we had a great view of Mt. Cook and the Tasman Sea.
Greymouth to the Glaciers
Greymouth
When we arrived at Greymouth, the only waves to surf were concrete.
National Kiwi Center, Hokitika, West Coast, South Island
Kiwis are New Zealand’s national bird. We had no idea that they are nocturnal and rarely seen by humans. We ended up going to the National Kiwi Center that keeps a couple of Kiwis at a time in captivity. Unfortunately, we were not allowed to photograph them. The center also has a tank of giant eels, like the ones we saw in the rivers of Tahiti. In an attempt to get over our fear of them, we fed them. I’m not sure if it helped or made it worse.
Willie needed a quick surf fix, so he randomly turned down this dirt road called “Beach Street”. We found a gnarly beach break and a beautiful place to camp for the night. A local later told us that he had never seen any one surf this break. Hmmm…I wonder why?
As if the waves weren’t gnarly enough, these large pieces of drift wood were floating in the water.
Aimee surfing the driftwood.
Sunset with driftwood.
We woke in the morning to our first view of Mt. Cook.
Drive to Greymouth
March 31, 2013
For 2 weeks now, we have been traveling in an RV on the North Island. Four people in a 6x20ft space for 2 weeks can be challenging. Our kitchen, living area, bedroom, and bathroom are all within an arms reach of each other. There is no privacy and no secrets. When someone has to change, they yell out “close your eyes, don’t look.” It also didn’t help that we were welcomed to the North Island with a nasty virus that whipped through our family like a cyclone and we spent way too many days driving around without any physical activity.We were all a little edgy that first week, but finally getting out in the surf, cutting back on our driving hours, recovering from our illness and embracing the RV life, we were back to “liking” each other again.
When we weren’t trying to find good surf, we hit some tourist attractions.
Lots of sheep
Cape Fowl Wind Walkway
Lots of Seals
Lots of Weka
kayaking at Abel Tasman cont.
The best part of our day was playing with these little guys. The baby seals were very inquisitive and playful. They swam right up to our kayaks and put on quite a show. I love this photo of Aimee looking at the seal with huge eyes and the seal looking back with the same expression.
Abel Tasman National Park
Kayaking
From the ferry we headed straight for Abel Tasman National Park for some kayaking. We woke the next morning to a beautiful warm day filled with sunshine.
Off to the South Island, New Zealand
On April 1st, we departed the North Island from Wellington on the Interisland Ferry and arrived in Picton about three hours later.
Coromandel Peninsula
We headed to Hot Water Beach in search of the natural hot pools. Hot Water Beach is on the Coromandel Peninsula. At low tide you can make your own hot spring by digging a hole along the water’s edge where the sand feels warm. We camped at the Hot Water Holiday Park, ate some fish and chips, waited until low tide and went to dig ourselves a hot pool.
Fish and chips for dinner.
Off to dig our hot pool.
Wylie with the spade.
Enjoying our hotpool under the stars.
